About a month ago I went on a trip for work and ended up renting a 2015 Impala. I didn't know it until it kicked in, but it had a start/stop system installed on it. Come to find out its actually standard equipment on the 2015 Impalas with the 2.5L ecotec. I must say I was quite impressed with how well it worked. It was as seamless as my Prius' starting and stopping, but without the huge battery pack. There also wasn't any starter noise which I also thought was odd. Not only that, but it can restart your engine even while its being shut off. In a normal vehicle, this would normally cause some pretty nasty noises to occur as the starter pinion attempts to mesh with the flywheel.
So, my question is how did they do this? I've seen zero info on this, and I haven't been able to google up much else. Here is the
press release with basically all the info I've been able to find which isn't much.
My first guess is using a brushless DC motor so the starter is always connected, but without the brushes you don't have to worry about them wearing out. If they use a gear reduction that thing has to be spinning REALLY fast at max engine rpms.
Anyone else have some info on this?